Anthropogenic Sediment Retention: Major Global Impact From Registered River Impoundments

Jul 12, 2010
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Description:
A global geography of basinwide trapping of suspended sediment flux by the large reservoirs. A total of 236 regulated basins with 633 large reservoirs (> 0.5 km3 maximum storage capacity), which collectively represent about 70% of registered impoundment storage volume was used to estimate basinwide relative loss of suspended sediment destined for the world's oceans. For the purposes of display, the basins include both discharging and non-discharging portions of the land mass. A total of approximately 25-30% of pre-disturbance sediment flux is sequestered by modern impoundments, most built since 1950 (Vorosmarty et al. 2003, Syvitski et al. 2005).

The sediment trapping indicator is computed as:

R = 0.67 * MaxCapacity / Q
TE = 1 - ( 0.05 / R 0.5)

R = residence time of water in reservoir; TE = trapping efficiency of reservoir; MaxCapacity = maximum reservoir capacity, Q = local mean annual discharge (pre-impoundment).
Data Provided By:
Fekete, B.M., Water Systems Analysis Group, University of New Hampshire, NH
Content date:
not specified
Citation:
Title: Anthropogenic Sediment Retention: Major Global Impact From Registered River Impoundments
Credits: Fekete, B.M., Water Systems Analysis Group, University of New Hampshire, NH
Publication Date: 2003
Other Citation Info: Charles J. Vorosmarty, Michel Meybeck, Balazs Fekete, Keshav Sharma, Pamela Green, and James Syvitski. Anthropogenic Sediment Retention: Major Global Impact From Registered River Impoundments. Global and Planetary change, 39 (2003) 169-190.
Contact Organization:
Water Systems Analysis Group, Complex System Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, USA
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Use Constraints:
Reference Vorosmarty et al., 2003
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Tags:
sediment, trapping, impoundment, dams
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